I received e-mails from two different people this weekend who basically asked me if online bingo was fair or if the sites were run by scammers. One of the people mentioned that he’d done a little research on the matter and saw mixed opinions. So, this seems like an appropriate topic to address today.

Online bingo is fair if you play at a safe site. The online gambling industry is largely unregulated so pretty much anyone with a little money in the bank can set up shop. On the internet, reputation is everything. Until we get a worldwide governing body for gambling, we’ll have to rely on reputation to determine which sites are worth joining.

The key to getting a fair game of bingo is to stick with the big-name sites that you can research before you join. New bingo sites pop up all the time and it’s hard to get an idea of what those sites are all about. I’m sure most new bingo sites are legit, but there’s no easy way to tell for sure. For that reason, I prefer to stick with big name sites.

These are all bingo sites that have been around for a number of years. Based on my own experiences and talks with other players, these bingo sites know how to treat customers. They all offer high quality games but most importantly, they pay their winners.

Making Money
I should warn you that you shouldn’t go to online bingo with dreams of getting rich. The vast majority of bingo games on the internet run for fairly small stakes. Average wins are less than a hundred dollars. Bingo sites do host the occasional promotion with a massive prize pool, but most games are much smaller.

Bingo is more of a social game than a pure gambling game. Yes, there’s an element of gambling in the fact that you buy cards and try to win money, but that’s almost an afterthought. Visit any longstanding bingo site and you’ll notice that many of the players seem to know each other.

Online bingo is an experience. If you don’t have any plans for your evening, it’s nice to log in, play a few games and chat with people from all around the world. Bingo is a more lighthearted game than most other gambling games.

If your goal is to make money, there are other games for that. Sports betting, poker and blackjack all come to mind from that angle. And if you want to go for the really big wins, there are plenty of progressive jackpot slot machines that offer payouts in the range of a million dollars.

So to sum things up, online bingo is fair as long as you play at legitimate sites. It’s not the best way to get rich, but it’s fun and fair. I can think of much worse things to do on a slow evening.

The form of bingo you’re most likely familiar with is known as 75 ball bingo. 75 ball bingo is the game that uses a 5×5 grid with the letters B-I-N-G-O spelled across the top and a square in the middle marked as “free.” If you played bingo as a child, this is probably the form of bingo you played.

The other form of bingo that you might have played is 90 ball bingo. This one is more popular in the UK, Europe and a few other parts of the world. 90 ball bingo uses a 9×3 grid consisting of 9 columns and 3 rows. Each row has 4 blanks spots and 5 empty spots reserved for your numbers.

80 ball bingo occupies the middle ground between the two formats described above. An 80-ball bingo card consists of a 4×4 grid with no free spaces. It’s called “80 ball” because there are 80 possible numbers that correspond to the 80 balls that are drawn at random.

There are several ways to win a game of 80 ball bingo depending on the rules in play. You can win by either completing a line (horizontal, vertical or diagonal) or completing some other pattern such as multiple lines, the 4 corners or blackout. Some bingo sites keep it simple while others require more complex patterns before a winner is declared.

Unlike 75-ball bingo, 80 ball bingo does not require you to match letters AND numbers. Only the numbers are called. Each column on an 80-ball bingo card has a different color, but those colors aren’t used to make matches. The four columns on a card correspond to a range of possible numbers:

1st Column: 1-20
2nd Column: 21-40
3rd Column: 41-60
4th Column: 61-80
80-ball bingo is a fairly fast-paced game depending on the patterns in play. It has more numbers than 75-ball bingo, but it’s also easier to complete lines due to the cards being 4×4 instead of 5×5. Single line games tend to run fairly quickly while blackout games take quite a bit longer to complete.

In summary, the rules of 80-ball bingo will be familiar to anyone with bingo experience. The only differences between this form and 75-ball bingo is the number of balls in play and the setup of the cards. As numbers are called, you mark off your card and hope to be the first person to complete a line or pattern.

Where to Play 80 Ball Bingo
80 ball bingo is a bit harder to find than the other two formats. This one doesn’t offer anything really unique so most bingo sites just stick with 75 and 90-ball bingo. However, I do know of a few sites that offer 80-ball bingo:

These sites are your best bet for finding 80-ball bingo online. It may be worth keeping in mind that this game doesn’t have the same popularity as other bingo variations so there isn’t quite as much action or as many promotions for 80-ball games. But, if you really want to give it a try, these are the sites to visit.

Leo Santa Cruz and Abner Mares renew their hostilities as the two Los Angeles based featherweights fight for Santa Cruz’s WBA ( super ) featherweight world title at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California on June 9, 2018.

Battle Of Los Angeles
This will be the second time that Santa Cruz and Mares will share the squared circle as the two went toe to toe in the highly publicized “Battle of Los Angeles” in 2015. Santa Cruz emerged victorious in that closely fought 12 round war as the judges awarded him with a 117-111, 117-111 and 114-114 majority decision win.

Santa Cruz came off the gates fast but it was Mares who finished the fight strong. The back and forth action plus the fact that it was one of the most viewed boxing matches on ESPN made it easy to talk a rematch. But instead of booking it right away, the fighters took separate roads first.

Separate Roads
After Santa Cruz captured the WBA ( super ) featherweight title against Mares, he took a title defense against former IBF super bantamweight titlist Kiko Martinez. Santa Cruz knocked out Martinez in five rounds to keep his belt. In April 2016, Santa Cruz ventured to a showdown with Belfast star Carl Frampton who was moving up from the super bantamweight division. Frampton upset Santa Cruz and handed the Mexican the first defeat of his career via majority decision.

Six months later, Santa Cruz would get an immediate rematch. In an equally close contest, Santa Cruz turned the tables on Frampton and won by a similar majority decision. Following the win, Santa Cruz was ordered by the WBA to fight Mares who was declared as mandatory challenger and the WBA ( regular ) champion. Mares won that title by defeating Jesus Cuellar in December 2016.

Bragging Rights
But the negotiations for their rematch didn’t go as planned and both ended up fighting different opponents. However, to keep the interest of their rematch burning, they were booked to fight on the same fight card last October. Santa Cruz ended up fighting Chris Avalos, winning that bout via 8th round knockout. Mares meanwhile, fought Mexican champion Andres Gutierrez in October 2017 and won the fight via technical decision.

With their designated victims beaten and all negotiation obstacles finally settled, the runback was finally penciled for June 9th. Of course, there was no better place to host the rematch than the city which both of these featherweight calls home. The winner doesn’t just get the belt but also the bragging rights.

High Volume Puncher
The 29-year-old Santa Cruz owns a record of 34-1-1 with 19 knockouts. At 5-7 and with a reach of 69 inches, he holds a significant size advantage over Abner Mares who stands 5-4 and has a reach of 66 inches. In his loss to Carl Frampton, Santa Cruz didn’t have his father Jose Santa Cruz to train him. The elder Santa Cruz had recently been diagnosed with stage 3 multiple myeloma. With his father conquering cancer since Leo’s motivation has never been higher.

Santa Cruz is known as one of the sport’s most voluminous puncher. He throws tons of punches and keeps on coming forward. His work rate and accuracy are what makes him stand out from the field. He doesn’t have knockout power but it’s his speed, volume, and timing that give him stoppage wins.

LEO SANTA CRUZ VS ABNER MARES
12 RD WBA ( SUPER ) FEATHERWEIGHT TITLE
ODDS: SANTA CRUZ -400, MARES +300
( PER Bovada as of 6/5/18 11:22 am (EST) )
Pressure Fighter
Like Santa Cruz, Mares throws a lot of punches. The 32-year-old former Olympic boxer from Mexico has a professional record of 31-2-1 with 15 knockouts. Mares was Golden Boy’s top prospect when he was upset by Jhonny Gonzalez in 2013. He never got to avenge his loss to Gonzalez but he’ll get an opportunity to get his revenge on Santa Cruz on Saturday night.

Mares puts a lot of pressure on his opponents by staying busy with rapid-fire combinations. He loves to work the body and often gets too aggressive that he lands low and gets penalized. Compared to Santa Cruz, he has inferior punching power. But he makes up for that with his tireless work ethic and determination. He never gives up and he never stops punching.

Fight Of The Year?
Like the first bout, this one has all the recipe for a fight of the year candidate. Both fighters are offensively gifted and a chess match is the last thing you’d see in this fight. There was no dull moment in the first bout as both fighters willingly stood in front of each other and traded punches. With both fighters possessing granite chins, their first bout was an instant classic that had fans going crazy.

Not only was their first bout action-packed, it was a back and forth affair. As we said earlier, Santa Cruz had the better start but it was Mares who poured it on late in the bout. Unfortunately for Mares, Santa Cruz had built a big lead on points and his comeback came up short.

Pure Boxer
These are two equally special fighters who are both champions. But between the two, Leo Santa Cruz is the pure boxer who also has more punching power and the advantage in size. Abner Mares is tough and persistent as they come but unless he stops Leo Santa Cruz, he will need to fight the perfect bout to win.

Santa Cruz can choose to fight from the outside and with his three-inch advantage in height and reach, he can easily outpoint Mares and coast for the victory. But that’s not who Leo Santa Cruz is. He is going to pour it on from start to finish. And that could give Mares an opportunity.

Bet365 has long been one of my top picks for all of our non-USA readers. It’s one of the biggest gambling sites in the world and has a long, positive history behind it. When Bet365 added online bingo to its lineup, it was great news for bingo players around the world.

The promotions at Bet365 are always changing, but I wanted to take today to talk about the latest bingo promos for both new and current members of Bet365.com. Bingo is a game of pure luck, so it’s important to take advantage of every promo you can get your hands on.

New Players
Bet365 Bingo welcomes all new players with two different bonuses. When you first join, you’ll get 200 free tickets right up front. You don’t need to deposit or jump through any hoops to get these tickets. Just make an account and Bet365 will give you 100 tickets for use in the Kiss and Tell room the next day. The day after that, you’ll get another 100 free tickets.

Altogether, these tickets are worth £10. Yes, these are micro-stakes games, but it’s still an extra £10 that you wouldn’t have otherwise. It takes all of five minutes to sign up for an account. I’d say this is a good deal.

Bet365 will also give you a £20 bonus after you make your first deposit. If you deposit £10 or more after joining, you’ll get an extra £20 that you can use to buy even more tickets. After you sign up for an account, Bet365 will send you an e-mail with a unique offer code that you can use to redeem the bonus.

Click here to get your bonus

Existing Players
There are so many bingo related promos at Bet365 that it would take a year to explain them all here. Let’s just say that there is always something happening at Bet365 bingo. Every week, they have guaranteed prize pool games that give away anywhere from £10,000 to £50,000. All you have to do is play during certain times and you can compete for your share of a hefty prize pool.

One of the biggest regular promos is the £50,000 Feel Good Friday contest that runs every Friday evening at 18:00 UK time. Basically, this is just a whole series of games that give away guaranteed prizes worth £400 to £5,000. Cards start at just 10p and never go higher than 50p. That alone is a great value.

And if you’re really on a budget, Bet365 hosts free bingo games every day with prizes worth £100. You don’t have to pay a thing to join, but you have a real shot at winning money. All you have to do is show up.

Bet365 also has The Breakfast Club for all you morning birds. This promo hosts a guaranteed £2500 worth of prizes every morning from 06:00 to 09:00. Tickets for this one start at just 5p.

These are just a few examples of the many promos Bet365 runs every week for its bingo players. Even if you already have a gambling site to call home, Bet365 is worth a look for the bonuses and promos alone. You’d be missing out on a lot of free money if you passed on this bingo site.